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Maquet Medical Systems announces today study results showing a significant cost benefit of the endoscopic vessel harvesting (EVH) technique compared to traditional open vessel harvesting (OVH). Data of the study that was conducted at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, UK were presented Tuesday, Oct 14th at the 28th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EACTS) in Milan, Italy.

In Europe, more than 200,000 patients require a CABG procedure each year. For many of these patients, the saphenous vein from the leg or radial artery from the arm is harvested for use to bypass a blockage in the heart. Endoscopic vessel harvesting has been shown to reduce infections, postoperative pain, recovery time and scarring compared with open vessel harvesting surgery.

In the presentation entitled “Cost-benefit of endoscopic vein harvest in patients at high-risk for wound complications,” researchers compared the costs of EVH and OVH for a non-randomized propensity matched study comparing 50 consecutive EVH cases with 50 OVH historical control cases. 100 patients at high-risk for leg wound complication were enrolled in the study. All wounds were assessed during in-hospital stay, in wound clinic and regularly until wounds had healed. The study showed successful clinical results: only 4% experienced leg wound issues with EVH compared to 48% with OVH. EVH patients also saw a one day reduction in hospital stay for an average savings of £856 per patient. Overall, researchers saw a savings of £42,778 across all EVH patients in the sample; after factoring for the cost of the EVH kits.

This study confirms that apart from the well-known and documented patient benefits of faster recovery and significantly less scarring, EVH is also cost-effective in patients at high risk of developing leg wound complications. In addition, a systematic analysis of more than 250,000 patients, in several previous studies, clearly demonstrated the clinical benefits and safety of EVH compared to open techniques as well. The most important clinical benefits are: reduced risk of wound infection, reduced length of hospital stays and increased patient satisfaction; all with equal long-term outcomes compared to open harvesting techniques. This resulted in a Class IIa, Level A recommendation for EVH in the newly published ESC/EACTS Guidelines on Myocardial Revascularization of October 2014.

“It’s very promising,” says Dr. Heyman Luckraz, who is a member of The College Council of the Society of Clinical Perfusion Scientists’ of Great Britain and Ireland. “With this guidance, and the data we have collected and generated, we have shown this is a safe thing to use for the patient and it is cost effective in the longer term.”

“We are passionate,” commented Peter Hinchliffe, President and CEO, MAQUET Cardiac Systems ”about our VASOVIEW HEMOPRO product’s part in enabling the widespread use of this EVH technique to healthcare providers and, most importantly, to patients worldwide.”

VASOVIEW HEMOPRO 2 is the 11th version of Maquet’s endoscopic vessel harvesting system, utilizing an innovative cut-and-seal technology to minimize thermal spread and to achieve optimal conduit quality for CABG surgery patients. The VASOVIEW HEMOPRO 2 system may also be used for harvesting both the saphenous vein and the radial artery.

About Maquet

Maquet, a trusted partner for hospitals and physicians for more than 175 years, is a global leader in medical systems. The company offers innovative therapy solutions and infrastructure capabilities for high-acuity areas within the hospital — including the operating room (OR), hybrid OR/cath lab, and intensive care unit (ICU) — as well as intra- and inter-hospital patient transport. Additionally, Maquet develops intelligent and sustainable room concepts that exceed the expectations of modern hospitals, working in close cooperation with customers, production engineers and architects to integrate high quality products and services.

Headquartered in Rastatt, Germany, Maquet is the largest subsidiary of the publicly listed Getinge Group AB of Sweden. Maquet generated about 1.55 billion Euros in 2014, representing more than half of the Getinge Group’s annual revenue of 2.93 billion Euros. Maquet has 6,550 employees and provides over 40 international sales and service organizations, as well as a network of more than 300 sales partners. Maquet | The Gold Standard.

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Getinge Group is a leading global provider of products and systems that contribute to quality enhancement and cost efficiency within healthcare and life sciences. We operate under the three brands of ArjoHuntleigh, Getinge and Maquet. ArjoHuntleigh focuses on patient mobility and wound management solutions. Getinge provides solutions for infection control within healthcare and contamination prevention within life sciences. Maquet specializes in solutions, therapies and products for surgical interventions, interventional cardiology and intensive care.